She Noticed
by Wacko101
Summary: People didn't stop to think deeper about Phantom. Why would they? He saved their lives from ghosts what else was there to know? So the people of Amity Park were blissfully unaware. No one stopped to pay attention. So no one ever noticed. Until someone did...
1. Chapter 1

**This came to my mind and I really just had to write it down. I might continue this with little one-shots if I get the inspiration but I am not sure. Hope you like it.**

When most people hear the name Danny Phantom they usually think one thing. Hero. There were few exceptions to this, but most people though of him as a hero.

People didn't stop to think deeper. Why would they? He saved their lives from ghosts what else was there to know? So people never stopped to think deeper. Never stopped to think how extraordinarily young Phantom looked. They never stopped to think that someone so young was dead. And they never stopped to think just _how _someone so young had died. The people of Amity Park were blissfully unaware. No one stopped to pay attention. So no one ever noticed.

Until someone did.

It was during the summer. A day like any other day in the town of Amity Park. The town was being attacked; by ghosts. No one ever said it was a normal day, just an average one. Despite the attack on the town the people of Amity Park weren't worried, not really. It wasn't anything they hadn't seen before. They knew what to do. If they saw a ghost they just went away as quietly as possible as to not attract attention. Then Danny Phantom would come and the ghost would be dealt with.

Only something went wrong.

Phantom had been flying over the city at a slow pace waving at any citizens that spotted him and continuing on his way when he was shot at. Again not by a human but one of the ghost's that normally attacked the town, Skulker. The shot hit Phantom on the back making him loose control and spiral into the street below. The few people who were on that particular street screamed and scattered out of the way as Phantom hit the pavement with a loud crunch leaving a crater behind. Phantom got up remarkably quick (considering the hit he had taken) and flew back up to the ghost. He didn't have to go far the ghost was only ten feet off the ground.

"Still after my pelt Skulker? When will you realize that you will never succeed?"

On the ground the crowd winced. What kind of sicko wanted a human pelt? Certainly not one that they wanted to mess with, slowly they all began to back away.

The ghost in question looked outraged.

"I am the Ghost Zones greatest hunter! I will have your pelt!

The fight resumed. Most of the citizens on the street had gotten away. All but one that is. Every time the last citizen tried to run the metal ghost would fire at her. She was stuck.

There was a break in the fight, the metal ghost pulled back with several scorch mark and looking worse for wear. Phantom looked better with only a few scratches and burn marks.

"Like my new upgrades, Whelp?" Skulker asked noticing Phantoms slight pant as he tried to catch his breath. In response Phantom charged at Skulker once again only this time Phantom pulled out a thermos and it shot a blue beam at Skulker. At the same time Skulker fired a net at Phantom. The blue beam hit Skulker and sucked him into the thermos. Only seconds later the net hit Phantom, effectively capturing him. It then continued to electrify him, to the horror of the lone citizen watching from below. Her horror only grew as Phantom fell out of the sky and onto the sidewalk with a loud crack. There was silence.

The girl, who was no more then 23, didn't know what to do. "Phantom? Phantom are you okay?"

There was no answer.

"Phantom?" The girl asked again.

There was still no answer.

The girl hesitated slightly, she probably should run, hanging around would only result in another ghost attack eventually. But she didn't know a lot about ghosts, Phantom could be seriously hurt. Then again he could be fine. But what kind of person would she be if she didn't check to make sure before leaving? So very carefully she walked forward.

He was sprawled out awkwardly on the pavement, his limbs spread out around him. One arm was bent at a completely wrong angle that made her wince, so much for ghosts not getting hurt. The net the ghost had trapped him in was still draped over him but it no longer seemed to be hurting him. She carefully poked it with her finger and when it didn't hurt her pulled it off of him and threw it to the other side of the street. Now she could see Phantoms face. His white hair was was falling over it, his eyes were closed and he looked to be in a lot of pain. She fell to her knees and reached out her arm, still hesitant to touch him. While he was considered a hero by most people he was still a ghost, and while the town of Amity had ghost regularly attack the town they knew next to nothing about them. Gathering her courage she brushed the hair out of Phantom face. Her arm dropped to her side in shock, looking at Phantom in horror.

He was just a kid.

"He looks younger then Trevor." She muttered to herself, think about her little brother Trevor who was turning 17 next week.

"Well his arm is definitely broken. Who knew ghosts could even get hurt?" She said out loud trying not to look at the mangled limb to much, knowing she would be sick if she did.

He looked like he is in a lot of pain, even while unconscious. And she wondered what exactly she was going to do. No one would be around for a while, they knew to steer clear of a ghost attack for at least an hour, even if the ghost wasn't there anymore.

"Maybe I can wake him up." She said aloud trying to come up with a plan.

She reached out to gently touch his shoulder but as soon as her fingers brushed across his shoulder his eyes snapped open. Phantom gasped (Did ghost need to breath?) in pain and she quickly pulled her hand away.

She let him catch his breath because yes, it seemed like he needed to breath, and waited for him to realize she was there.

It only took about a minute for him to come to his senses. In that time she had been watching him she had come to three conclusions.

1. He was a lot younger then she had ever thought.

2. He didn't act like he was dead.

3. She really knew nothing about ghosts, and that bothered her.

So when he did realize she was there she had no intention of leaving him until she at least knew how old he was, at the very least.

"Phantom? Are you okay?"

She could have slapped herself. What kind of question was that? She cleared her throat awkwardly when all he did was stare at her.

"Well you obviously are not okay, sorry for asking that stupid question, I meant to ask do you need my help?"

She finally dragged her eyes over to Phantoms arm. The bone didn't look like it had gone through the skin, something she was very glad about. But it did look like a rather bad break.

"I don't really know anything about injuries, but I can drive you to the hospital? Or do ghosts have some other way of healing bones? I..." She probably would have gone on embarrassing herself if Phantom hadn't finally spoken up and said something.

"That is okay, I don't need to go to the hospital. Can you get me something to bite down on though?"

She nodded running over to a dollar store only a few feet away. Whoever had been working behind the counter was no longer there, having run away with the rest of the street when the ghost had attacked. She rummaged around the isle before finding a pair of socks. Ripping the packaging open she grabbed them and ran back to Phantom.

"Here, don't worry though, they have never been worn."

"You might want to look away." Then in one quick motion he bit down on the sock and before she could do anything he set the bone. She was glad she wasn't very squeamish, even so she cried out. Phantoms face showed the pain he was in for only a minute before he spat the sock out.

"Thanks for that, the sock really helps."

She starred in horror. "Do you need to do this often?"

"Often enough, one can only be thrown into so many buildings before something gives away, and usually its not the building."

"But you never look hurt?"

"I heal fast." Phantom said really looking at her for the first time. "It will only take around an hour before I can use my arm again."

"And no one even noticed." She said rubbing her arms, for the first time noticing how cold it was getting.

"Well no one ever sticks around. Why did you anyway? You could have run to safety as soon as I caught the ghost."

"Well I was going to." She admitted looking away from Phantom ashamed to say she almost left him. "Then I realized I don't really know if you would be alright for sure. I wanted to check, and I am glad I did."

The woman stood up, Phantom attempted to but he must have been in a lot of pain because he stumbled. The woman caught him and helped him to his feet before he could hit the ground again.

"Thank you. What is your name anyway?"

"My name is Emily."

"Thank you Emily. Most people would have walked away."

"I was just doing the right thing."

Phantom smiled at Emily again and again she was struck by how young he looked.

Finally she couldn't help but ask, it was bothering her how much he got hurt, sure he was probably hundreds of years old but he just looked so terribly young. "Phantom, exactly how old are you?"

"What?" He seemed surprised by the question, like she should have walked away by now.

"You just seem so young to be a hero, getting hurt so much, how old are you?" He shrugged.

"Fourteen."

"No how old are you really, how long have you been dead?" Emily asked and paused when she realized how rude that probably sounded. "If you want to tell me I mean! You don't have to I just was curious, I can understand if you don't want to tell me."

Phantom laughed a little and Emily found herself wondering why they had thought he was evil for so long, why they thought he was so inhuman when he clearly did everything they did.

"Fourteen."

No. There was no way. Emily's throat closed up a little, she didn't know what to say.

"Emily? Are you okay?"

She nodded and then choked out the first thing that came to her mind.

"I have a brother you know, his name is Trevor. He is only seventeen, I can't imagine him fighting like you do. For the longest time you were considered a villain too. All ghosts were supposed to be evil. We don't really know a lot about ghosts do we?"

Phantom looked a little unsure on what to say. "You know that ghosts exist, that is a step ahead of the rest of the world."

Emily nodded. "Thank you Phantom, I may not understand ghosts, and I definitely don't understand you, but thank you for saving me. Thank you for protecting the town. How many times have you saved us and we didn't even know it?"

"A few times." Was all Phantom said but he seemed uncomfortable, so it was probably more then a few times.

"Why do you protect us then? You get hurt," She gestured to Phantoms broken arm. "So why?"

"I lived here, still do. I have the power to keep the town safe so why shouldn't I? Anyone else would do the same thing."

Emily starred at Phantom. He really didn't understand how special he was. That not everyone would do what he did. He didn't understand that those were the qualities that made him a hero. But she did. So Emily hugged him, being careful about his arm, and then promptly started walking away.

She couldn't do anything for him now. But next time she heard someone saying something bad about Phantom there was no way that she was going to stand by while they ruined his name. Turning around one last time Emily said, "Come find me anytime you need to talk, and Phantom, you are more of a hero then even you know."

Then she turned around and kept walking, never seeing the smile Phantom gave her.


	2. Chapter 2

After Emily's first encounter with Phantom she had seriously doubted that she would ever see him again. Well that wasn't necessarily true. She would probably see him all the time fighting ghosts but she would probably never talk to him again.

So a few months after their meeting she was surprised when there was a knock on her window. At first she had thought it was a bird and had shrugged it off but then only moments later the knock sounded again. So thinking it was someone throwing something at her window from the ground, she was on the second story after all, Emily opened her window ready to scream at the person. Instead of some idiot teenager however she was greeted with bright glowing green eyes that stood out in the blackness of the night.

She recognized them immediately.

"Phantom?"

"Hey Emily, sorry if I woke you up but can I come inside?"

She backed up from the window allowing him inside.

Phantom floated in slowly and as soon as he was inside fell to the ground holding his side in pain.

"Phantom! What's wrong?"

"A ghost got me good in the side and I saw you from the window and you were the closest person I knew that would be willing to help..." Phantom looked like he would have gone on explaining himself but she had already gotten up and left the room. Before he could think about getting up to follow her she came walking back in holding a white box. She sat down next to him as he had not been able to get up from the spot he had collapsed.

Handing Phantom the first-aid kit she bit her lip nervously. "Here my brother keeps this in our bathroom because he gets hurt playing with his buddies a lot. I don't know how to use any of the stuff in here besides the band-aids though."

Phantom chucked a little before wincing his hand fluttering to his side. "Don't worry I know how to use it all but I might need a little help."

"Okay. I can help out." She said getting ready to see something grotesque like his broken arm again.

"Good." Phantom said rummaging through the supplies they had. "I need you to talk to me, keep me distracted from my wound, got it?"

"Okay but we do need to stop meeting up like this, its not a healthy habit for you."

Phantom smiled a weak smile at her as he unzipped the top half of his suit.

Despite her preparations for seeing the injury Emily had not thought it would look like that. There was what looked like a crater in his side surrounded by black that she was startled to realize was charred flesh. Surrounding the black area the skin was bright red and was blistered.

Quickly looking away she felt her stomach roll around a little and she hoped desperately that she wouldn't puke. Doing that would be both embarrassing and unhelpful.

She though about what she could talk about and when nothing came to mind that she could talk about to distract Phantom she decided to tell him about her.

Still not looking at Phantom she started. "My full name is Emily Elizabeth Connor, I don't think I told you that before. I have my mom and dad and younger brother, Trevor. My little brother in 17 and very intelligent. He is on the Casper high soccer team and I couldn't be more proud of him. He is a huge supporter of Phantom by the way."

She risked a quick glance at him and saw that he was applying multiple things to the wound and was wincing every time he touched it. Hoping that her talking was actually helping and not distracting him she continued on.

"I am 23 and going to Amity University for a degree in law, I am stuck living with my parents until I pass and get enough money to buy an apartment. I love reading and my favorite color is orange. I love watching horror movies and am terrified of clowns."

Emily paused unsure of what to say next before thinking of what her best friend Lindsay would say if she saw what was happening to her now.

"I have a best friend, friends forever since freshmen year. Her name is Lindsay and if she could see what was happening now she would probably slap me in the back of my head for getting into this situation before helping me out in any possible way. She is awesome and also a huge Phantom lover. Not like my brother though, she is an actual Phantom lover but she isn't like the people in that fan club you have. She is a little more mellow then that. If only a little."

She heard a chuckle and looked back up at Phantom who was starting to zip his suit back over the ace-bandage he had wrapped around his side.

"She sounds great. Everyone needs a good friend like that."

Emily smiled thinking about my friend. They had went out to lunch yesterday to catch up and it had been great talking to her. She hadn't told her about her meeting with Phantom though. She hadn't wanted her freaking out.

"Are you good now?" Emily asked him as she stood up before helping him up from the floor and moving him over to her bed to sit down on.

"I think I will survive." He cracked a smile at his own joke before turning more serious. "Thank you I wouldn't have been able to get to a first-aid kit fast enough."

"Anytime you need it. It's usually in the bathroom but next time you come to visit me how about it's just to talk?" Emily asked completely serious.

"Agreed." Phantom said also serious.

"Who did this to you anyway?" Emily asked wondering which of the many ghosts had gotten that good of a hit on him.

"It was a ghost named Fright Knight."

Emily frowned not recognizing the name.

"The creepy ghost with armor on that helped Pariah Dark." Phantom said realizing she didn't know the ghosts by name like he did.

Emily nodded understanding, everyone had at least caught a glimpse of that ghost during the invasion.

"Is there anything else I can do?" Emily asked trying to change the subject.

Phantom looked down slightly and his face seemed to turn a little green.

"Phantom... are you blushing?"

His face turned greener.

"Oh my gosh you are!" Emily said screaming in laughter.

"Yeah its hilarious." Phantom said sourly as she worked on calming herself down.

"Right, right sorry. Okay what else do you need?"

"Well I was hoping I could hang out here for a bit? My side is still in too much pain or me to fly, it wouldn't be for more then an hour."

She nodded. "That would be fine but if one of my parents or my brother comes in you turn invisible. I rather not explain why I have Danny Phantom in my room."

"Deal. Thanks Emily."

"No problem Phantom."

So Emily sat down on her bed next to Phantom wondering what they would do for an hour.

"So you want to be a lawyer?" Phantom asked her.

She nodded. "Yup. Why not right? I can help people."

"That's nice. I wish the Ghost Zone had lawyers. All we have is Walker, this really corrupt ghost that is obsessed with these ridiculous rules."

"How so?" Emily asked wondering what kind of rules the land of the dead would have.

"Like I said, he is corrupt. The rules are almost impossible to follow and no one really knows all of them."

"Hmm. What is the Ghost Zone like then?" Emily asked for the first time wondering where Phantom came from, where all the ghost came from. She knew what the term ' Ghost Zone' meant from a town meeting where the elder Fentons' had tried to explain what to do if a ghost attacked but they hadn't had a lot of information to give. Still she remembered being interested in the Ghost Zone. Now maybe she cold learn about it.

Phantom sighed rubbing the back of his neck, something that was probably a nervous habit he didn't even realize he was doing. "The Ghost Zone is the flip side of the human world..."

She nodded soaking up what he said, crossing her legs on the bed and facing him as he began to describe the strange and mysterious place of the Ghost Zone. Time flew by as he shared what he knew about the Ghost Zone with her, eventually he had no more information to give.

"And that is what I can tell you about the Zone. It's huge though, I haven't even come near exploring all of it, I am not sure if any ghost in the zone has ever been to all of it. Well... not true Clockwork probably has."

Emily blinked unsure of who Clockwork was. She never got the chance to ask though because at that moment she spotted the clock on her nightstand.

"Oh! It's almost midnight!"

"What?" Phantom jumped up, his side no longer seemed to be in horrible pain, to look at the clock for himself.

"Ah man I am going to be in so much trouble!"

"Trouble? Why would you be in trouble?" Emily wondered why Phantom a ghost who lived in the Ghost Zone would be so worried about the time. It wasn't like he had a curfew, did he?

"I am sorry I have to go!"

"Why would you need to go back to the Ghost Zone before twelve?" Emily asked completely confused.

Jumping in the air Phantom floated there for only a minute before flying straight through her wall.

She stood there for a few seconds unsure of what had just happened when Phantoms head suddenly popped back through her wall.

"Who ever said I lived in the Ghost Zone?" With a knowing smirk he flew off again and she heard his laughter echoing through the night.

She could only stare at the wall where his head had been, wondering. Wondering if he did not live in the ghost zone then where could he live?


	3. Chapter 3

**To be clear, when I began writing this story I was not intending for there to be any pairings. And there still won't be. Not between Emily and Phantom or Emily and Danny or anything like that. This is more of a friendship story. Sorry for those who were wishing for something else.**

The next time Emily saw Phantom it was under better conditions.

It was during the day, the sun was shinning and there wasn't a cloud in the sky, something that was a sharp contrast to the weather they had been having recently. Emily had taken the opportunity to go for a walk in the park to get the fresh air and exercise and it seemed almost everyone else in the town had the same idea. The park was packed full of families, joggers, teenagers and dogs running around and Frisbees were flying through the air so much that she was sure multiple people had already been hit in the head.

Still she continued on hoping to find a spot that was less crowded so she could sit down to read. It took a while but she was finally able to find a secluded area that no one was in. It had actually been rather hard to find and she was sure almost no one knew of it so she was sure to be alone. Emily walked to the base of a tree to sit down. She wasn't sure why she was here, she had an important paper due soon and she needed to finish it but with everything that had happened recently with Phantom she felt like she needed a place to just relax a little.

So she opened her book and just let the world fade away.

She wasn't sure how long she just sat like that, in the shade of a tree reading. All she knew was that there was a noticeable difference in where the sun was positioned when she heard a twig snap.

Her head shot up and began looking around for what had caused the disturbance but finding nothing she just shrugged it off as a squirrel and was about to open her book again when she heard someone clear their throat.

This time she gasped and dropped her book, eyes snapping wide as she tried to find whoever was around her.

She didn't have to look far.

Ten feet in front of her Phantom was hovering a couple feet in the air on his back, tilting his head back so he could look at her.

"What book are you reading?" He asked curiously not changing his position at all.

She shook her head embarrassed that he had been able to scare her so easily and decided to go with his sudden appearance.

She picked up the book she had been reading and dusted it off a little as she told him what the book title was, "_A Wrinkle in Time_ by Madeleine L'Engle, have you ever read it?"

Phantom shook his head saying, "No but it looks like you have, many times before."

It was true, she had read _A Wrinkle in Time _so often that the cover was fading and some pages were falling out, still she loved it and refused to replace it.

"It is a very good book." She defended putting it carefully down next to her. "So what are you doing here anyway? You don't seem injured."

Phantom rolled in the air onto his stomach before dropping to the ground. "Well I did say I would try and not do that any more, I am proud to say that so far I have been successful."

Emily smiled. "That's good to hear. But you never said why you were here."

Phantom sat down next to her. "Well, truthfully this is where I normally go when I want to be alone. People normally want to stay in the main section of the park and you can only imagine what would happen if I landed in the middle of _that_."

Emily smiled thinking of the chaos that would ensue if_ the Danny Phantom_ were to land in the middle of a crowded place like the park was today.

"So you come here a lot then?" Emily asked Phantom thinking of all the times she had walked past this spot not thinking anything of it.

"I guess but I normally don't have time to just relax, between fighting ghosts and homew-" Phantom cut off his sentence hoping she wouldn't know what he was going to say. It would give her to many questions he didn't want to answer.

Unfortunately it seemed Emily had caught his little slip up. "Homework? You have homework? So you go to school then?"

Phantom looked away wondering how he was going to explain this one, he was lucky she hadn't asked him where he really lived after the little stunt he had pulled last time he had seen her. Really what had he been thinking? Was he trying to give her clues that he wasn't like other ghosts? Then again she probably already had her suspicious that something was different about him. Deciding that he wouldn't answer any of her questions directly Phantom only gave Emily a knowing smile that made her want to slap him.

"Whatever I will let this go for now. Next time I will just give you over to Lindsay see what she does to you."

"Ah, you wouldn't do that... would you?" Phantom asked wondering if Emily would actually give him over to the worse evil there was, fangirls.

Emily only gave him a smile back, showing that if he wouldn't answer her questions she wouldn't answer his.

After that they lapped into silence soaking up the sun and listening to the wind blow in the trees.

"Do you want to borrow it sometime?" Emily broke the silence with her question.

"What?" Phantom asked snapping back from whatever world he had been visiting in his head.

"_A Wrinkle in Time_? Do you want to borrow it sometime? You said you have never read it before I thought maybe you would want to."

She handed him the book. Phantom carefully took it and started reading the back cover and flipping through the pages fast. "If it is okay with you, sure. It seems interesting. Only I don't have a lot of time to read."

"Its okay. I figured you wouldn't. Take as much time as you need, I pretty much memorized the book by now anyway. Plus they have a movie you can watch after you read the book. It isn't as good as the book in my opinion, they never are but if you want to watch it I own that too."

Phantom smiled at her before thinking of something. "When I am done with the book how will I get it back to you? Do you just want me to out it back in your room?"

Emily considered this for a second. "Well we could do that but how about we meet here once a week? That way I know you are okay and we can talk about what you have read in the book so far. Plus then I can actually see my friend."

Emily paused wondering if that was going to far. She didn't know how much Phantom actually enjoyed being in the human world. Plus they had only met a few times, would that be enough to be considered a friend? Gosh now she was sounding like a nervous kindergartener trying to make friends. Great.

Thankfully Phantom just smiled. "Sounds good. Same day and same place next week then?"

"Deal." She said smiling back at him.

Later on when Emily got back home it was already very late but she didn't feel tired. Her and Phantom had continued to talk for hours in the park and she had found many similarities between her and the ghost. This was something that actually made her feel slightly uncomfortable, not the fact that she had something in common with a dead person. No, it was the fact that people acted like they were so different from ghosts when all ghost had been human at one point. Heck it seemed Phantom still behaved like a normal fourteen year old, he even said he had homework. She also wondered how was that possible and why did he not seem to want to tell her?

Her mind was a mess thinking about all of the things that were different about Phantom. Everything that wasn't what she expected. So she got ready for bed thinking about what she could do to learn more about ghosts in general. Her knowledge was severely lacking for someone who lived in a town infested with ghosts.

Just as she was about to fall asleep an idea came to mind. It was a good idea but she wasn't sure how much she would learn from them, after all they didn't seem to know more about ghosts then the rest of them but who would have more information then the Fentons?

Maybe she would visit them tomorrow.


	4. Chapter 4

Emily wasn't sure exactly how to go about contacting the Fentons. She knew the entire family was borderline crazy and she had been told numerous times that they were trigger happy and to be careful around them. She also knew they were the only way she was going to find anything out about Phantom. So she walked down the familiar streets of her home town wondering how she would start the conversation. Should she lie and say she was doing something for school? Or should she say she was with the Newspaper instead? Or should she say something different? Then she turned the corner and saw the massive house that she knew for a fact violated several laws.

The giant sign pointing to the house saying Fenton Works probably would have been enough to draw attention to the house but no, the Fentons had went ahead and made the sign light up in neon colors too. Already she was feeling bad for the two children who lived there, it probably wasn't easy living in a house like that in a town like this.

Even she had tried to avoid the Fenton house as much as possible when she was in High School, all of her friends had been rather immature saying that if they even looked at the house they might catch whatever the Fentons had that made them so crazy. She had always rolled her eyes at this but even so she had normally avoided the house. Now she was walking up to it willingly. Funny how things changed.

Climbing up the couple of stairs that led up to the door she tried not to hesitate in knocking. When she finally mustered up the courage to knock the door swung open instantly and she was suddenly facing the biggest man she had ever seen. Last time she had went to one of their ghost lectures in town he hadn't seemed this big and imposing. Now however he was towering over her in the normal bright orange hazmat suit he always wore. She only had a second to process this however as he screamed out, "GHOST!" as loud as his lungs would let him and aimed a rather large gun at her.

She froze. Fear bubbling up inside her. For a second she though for sure she was going to die, then she would know everything she needed to know about ghosts. The hard way.

Before anything else could happen though a slim hand pushed the gun away from her and Mrs. Fenton started scolding her husband in a very authoritative tone of voice.

"Jack how many times have I told you not to point weapons at people who are at the door!"

Mr. Fenton, to his credit, at least looked ashamed. "Sorry Mads." He said pouting and then looked back over at her.

"And sorry to you too."

Maddy smiled approvingly at her husband and reached into a pocket of her teal hazmat suit and pulled out a cookie before giving it to her excited husband.

Mrs. Fenton then turned to her. "And how might we help you?"

Emily's brain tried to catch up with everything that had happened in the last couple of seconds before finally remembering that she was supposed to say she was doing a project for school.

"I was just wondering if you could tell me about ghosts for a..." And that was as far as she got before Mr. Fenton grabbed her by the arm and pulled her inside already talking enthusiastically about ghosts. Mrs. Fenton followed behind saying how good it was that some of the young people of the town were starting to take ghosts seriously and see them as the major threat that they were.

Once again Emily felt gobsmacked by these people. They were just so enthusiastic about ghosts it was almost like they forgot how to respond accordingly to normal people.

Soon though she found herself listening to the Fentons theories and knowledge about ghosts while munching on a rather delicious cookie that Mrs. Fenton had offered her.

Some of their theories she knew were wrong. She knew for a fact not all ghosts were evil like they seemed to believe.

When the Fentons had started rambling on about how evil ghosts were she had tried to interrupt to say she didn't think so but, as soon as she did Mr. Fenton was off on another rant about how ghosts were.

Emily was starting to see how the Fentons were rather biased in their knowledge of ghosts. Seemingly not being able to believe any differently then what they were telling her.

When the Fentons had started telling her how ghosts couldn't feel pain which was why it was perfectly okay to shoot ecto weapons at them she had nearly left. She knew for a fact that ghosts could be hurt and feel pain, she had helped Phantom deal with wounds and listened to his cries of pain herself!

On the other hand some of their theories were rather interesting and actually seemed like they could be true. Like how ghosts were made. The Fentons explained how most ghosts were created because they had unfinished business here on Earth, mostly this happened because they had died a violent death.

As horrible as this idea seemed she thought it very well could have been true. And she found herself wondering how Phantom had died and why he had stayed behind as a ghost.

When she had brought up the idea of ghosts having a law system, like the one Phantom had mentioned to her, the Fentons had actually laughed at her. Saying that ghosts were not intelligent enough to be able to understand such complex human ideas.

She had to bite her tongue at this as she knew they were wrong and she didn't feel comfortable with the Fentons so easily degrading an entirely different species so easily. And that was how she was beginning to see ghosts, a new species that they had only recently discovered. They were basically like people after all, just with different abilities.

"So Mr. Fenton," She began but was interrupted by the large man when he shouted, "Call me Jack!"

"Alright...Jack. You said you built a ghost portal to the Ghosts Zone, and that was what started the ghost attacks on Amity Park?"

"That's right." Maddie, as she had been told to call her, said.

"So have you ever been inside the Ghost Zone?" She asked curious to know if they had ever actually explored the place they claimed to know so much about.

Maddie hesitated for a moment. "No, not exactly. We don't know what effect the pure ectoplasm would have on things from our world so we are hesitant to do any expeditions to the other side."

She was about to ask how they had found the data that they had when she was interrupted by the front door opening and closing.

"That would be my son Danny!" Jack said in his booming voice to her even though she was only a few feet away from him.

She looked over to the area where the front door was. She had never actually met either of the Fentons children before. She only knew they had a son and a daughter and apparently the sons name was Danny.

She only had to wait a moment before seeing him. He had black hair and baby blue eyes and for some reason seemed incredibly familiar to her. Danny however didn't even glance in her or his parents direction. Instead calling out, "Mom! Dad! I'm home! I'll be up in my room!"

Maddie however would have none of that. "Wait Danny! We have a guest! Come down here and meet her!"

Danny turned around from his position of half way up the stairs and slumped back down to the living room with the rest of them.

She watched as he sat down on a chair across from her and next to his parents before finally looking up. "Who is the gue..." He trailed off when he finally caught sight of her. For a moment he seemed to panic, not sure what to do. Then he smoothed his features over and tried to act like nothing had ever happened. But it had happened, she had seen all of it and she wondered what she had done to cause such reaction from someone she didn't remember ever meeting.

Still she tried to act like she hadn't seen anything. And offered him her hand to shake. He accepted and she introduced herself to him.

"Hello. My names Emily, I was just asking your parents about ghosts for a project I am doing in school."

Danny seemed to narrow his eyes at her just slightly like he was trying to find a hidden meaning behind her words, after a moment he finally seemed to relax completely and introduced himself. "My names Danny."

She nodded at him even though she already had known that and responded politely. "Nice to meet you."

Jack and Maddie seemed to have been pulled away into their own discussion about something she never had any hope of understanding so she sat there feeling rather uncomfortable. She wasn't sure if this was her cue to leave or not.

She was just about to excuse herself when she caught sight of something in Danny's hand that she hadn't noticed before. It was a book. The inner book nerd screamed to life and she found she couldn't leave without knowing what kind of books a son of a ghosts hunter read so out of pure curiosity she asked, "What book are you reading?"

The panic returned to his eyes.

He tried to act natural a he put up the book momentarily, just enough time for her to read the very familiar title of her favorite book. _A Wrinkle In Time _was in his hands and she felt happy that she was not the only one who seemed to enjoy the book as Danny's copy seemed to be almost as worn out as hers was.

"Oh! I love that book so much! What is your favorite part in it? Who is your favorite character?"

Danny looked at her in mild amusement at her outburst. "I actually haven't read it yet, I am just borrowing it from a friend. Is it that good?"

She nodded.

"Well at least I have something to look forward to." Danny said tucking the book underneath his arm so she could no longer see it.

After that the silence got awkward again, neither of them having anything to say anymore. After only a few more minutes of it she decided to get up and excuse herself.

"Thank you so much for the help Mr. and Mrs. Fenton but I really need to get going now."

"I told you to call me Maddie dear, and come back anytime if you have any more questions." Mrs. Fenton told her politely.

Emily nodded at them. Feeling much more confident then before she excepted their offer to come back latter saying she had thought many of their theories were interesting.

Danny walked her to the door, leaving his book behind in the living room.

Danny spoke first. "So you survived a conversation with my parents about ghosts, congratulations."

Emily laughed. "I thought it was interesting, some of their theories I don't completely agree with but many of them actually seem like they could be correct."

Danny nodded. "Yeah well I am glad my parents could help you with your school project."

"Yes thank them again for me." She told him stepping outside of Fenton Works.

"I will. Goodbye."

She turned around as the door closed behind her and started walking back to her house. Her brain was full of more knowledge about ghosts but for some reason she felt like she had missed something. Something very important. And she had no idea what it was.


	5. Chapter 5

The next time Emily saw Phantom was in their clearing for their second official meeting in the park.

She had been waiting for this day to come excitedly, she had been bored out of her mind in school all week and was itching to figure out if Phantom had started reading the book.

She could only hope he liked it as much as she did.

Lindsay had actually commented on the noticeable absence of the book in her bag just the other day, wondering if the poor thing had finally been read to death.

When Emily had told her she had let someone borrow it Lindsay had nearly fallen out of her chair in shock.

"You-and I do hope we are talking about the same you here, the same one who made me sign a contract before reading it- let someone borrow your book?" Lindsay had asked her in total disbelief.

Emily had only shrugged, not knowing what else to do without reveling that she was friends with the town's most famous ghost boy.

Still Emily had to admit, it was slightly uncomfortable to walk around without the book on her person.

Emily had probably only been in the clearing for around ten minutes when she spotted a small speck in the sky that was getting larger every second.

She didn't move from her relaxed position on the ground, but she did wave her hand lazily at Phantom as he drifted towards the ground.

Phantom stopped moving, choosing to hover a few inches off the ground instead of lying on it directly.

"Hello." He said simply, lounging as easily in the air as she was on the ground.

"Hello." She replied back. "Fight any new ghosts this week?"

Phantom smiled and then began to enthusiastically tell her about the latest ghost that had appeared, called Bubble Wrap and how in a turn of events, the Bubble Wrap ghost had ended up fighting the Box Ghost about who had the rightful control over bubble wrap.

Emily laughed as Phantom explained to her how confused he had been when suddenly instead of fighting a ghost, was had been trying to break up a fight between two ghosts.

"What did you end up doing?" Emily asked, smiling at the thought of two small ghosts arguing with each other over _bubble wrap _of all things.

"I didn't end up doing anything. Some of the people in the streets were complaining about the noise so I sucked the both of them up in the thermos and I am planning on just staying out of the way. I think their fight had something to do with their obsessions, which is why they are getting so defensive about it, so yeah, it is definitely better to stay out of their way."

Emily blinked not understanding. "Why? What is so special about an obsession?"

Phantom laughed thinking she was joking, then stopped once he realized she was serious.

"Sorry, its just... funny to think how some people have no clue how big a deal an obsession is to ghosts."

"Why is it so important?" Emily asked not understanding. The Fenton's hadn't mentioned anything about this.

Phantom paused for a moment, not sure how to explain. "A ghosts obsession is basically their reason for living, without an obsession a ghosts can't exist. That is why not everyone becomes a ghosts, they literally have no obsession so they go on to whatever is after being a ghosts, something not even the ghosts know."

Phantom paused for a minute. "So that is why you never want to insult or try and destroy a ghosts obsession. It is what is keeping them anchored to reality, it is what is keeping them from passing on. So, when the Box Ghost and the Bubble Wrap ghost started fighting over their mutual obsession I thought it would be best to stay out of it."

Emily nodded in slight understanding. The way Phantom talked about ghosts obsessions she figured to would be rude to ask what his was. Still, she was curious. Maybe she could try and figure it out on her own?

If it was supposed to be the one thing they were obsessed over, then it should be fairly obvious. She figured all she would have to do is find what Phantom was always doing.

But that could happen later. Right now she just had to spend time with her friend.

"So did you read the book?" She questioned, nearly jumping up and down in excitement.

Phantom looked sheepish.

"I started it, I didn't get very far. It seems interesting though."

She nodded enthusiastically. "It is!"

Phantom chuckled. "You would get along with my sister."

Her eyes widened at the new bit of information. "You had a sister?"

Phantom winced. "Well, I still do. She is still alive."

Emily's eyes widened. She had never thought about the possibility that Phantoms family was still alive, probably still living in Amity Park too.

* * *

><p>It was around an hour later that Emily left the clearing.<p>

Phantom had had to leave after what he called his ghost sense had gone off and he promised he would show up next week, hopefully with more of her book finished.

Emily was ready to go back home, she had no where else to be that day, when on an impulse she had turned left instead of right and headed towards the public library.

Once she was there she grabbed a computer off to the side, so no one could see what she was looking up. Not that it would matter, she just felt guilty about doing this.

When Phantom had said he had a sister still alive she couldn't stop wondering if that meant his sister knew he was Danny Phantom or if that meant his family was totally oblivious to him.

She wasn't sure which one she was hoping was true.

So she sat down at the computer and pushed away the guilt as she searched _"Amity Park, Illinois List of 2005-06 deaths"*** **_and held her breath as she clicked enter.

There were seven people who had died in 2005 that showed up in the search engine.

Two were elderly people, one who had died of old age and the other a heart attack.

Three were all victims of a car crash, two from the same crash and the last from a separate incident.

One had been and accident at a factory

The last had been a teenager, a girl who had overdosed.

There was no history of a teenage boy named Danny dying this year.

Emily frowned and retyped what she was looking for, hoping for different results but the results didn't change.

Emily leaned back in her chair and sighed. Why had she thought it would be easy? Phantom had said he had died recently, it should have come up.

Determined to not give up Emily thought over different ways she could look up the information.

She could always go old school and look up the newspapers they probably had stored in the library, but Emily decided that would be a last resort.

So she ran her fingers over the keyboard and thought of something else she could search.

_"Amity Park, Illinois Missing Persons"_

As Emily his enter she wasn't sure if she wanted to find what she was looking for. On one hand her curiosity would lessen, on the other if she found Danny under a missing persons she would probably never be able to look him in the eyes again. After all, people didn't just go missing. Most of the time they were kidnapped and Phantom was a ghost, so if her suspicion was true no one had ever saved Danny. It was a hard thought to think about.

When the results popped up there were only three missing persons cases. After all, Amity Park was a small peaceful town when the ghosts didn't show up.

Only there was no Danny to have ever gone missing from Amity Park.

There had been a Rebeca, Steve and a boy named Tyler Young but no Danny.

A few minutes later Emily was politely told to leave as the library as it as closing time and as she walked home she couldn't help but wonder if Phantom had lied to her about something.

***The dates she searched were between the original air dates for Danny Phantom. I didn't want this story to take place along our timeline as it would have taken place in the TV show.**


	6. Chapter 6

The summer months were both long and short for Emily.

She didn't have any classes, which was a nice relaxation period for her before going back into the sleepless nights of college, but at the same time she found herself having spare time she didn't know what to do with.

She had a job at the local convenience store, minimum wage, and she had her friends to hang out with but she still found herself applying for the Ice Cream Clerk job, just to earn some extra cash.

It was a boring job most of the time, and the store was always cold (for obvious reasons) so she normally left work with the chills that didn't go away until she had been in the warm sun for a decent amount of minutes.

It was also a surprisingly good job to hear about gossip.

The kids who came in for ice cream didn't seem to think much of her as they would talk to each other while she scooped their orders, often not even bothering to lower their voices if the store was empty enough.

Over the course of just a few days she learned many things she really didn't need to know about the high school students of Casper High.

She knew who was dating who, she knew that some rich girl, Paulina, had just gotten a 'totally awesome manicure', that some kid named Nathan was stalking some poor girl named Valerie, and that the Fenton kid had somehow put toilet paper in the jock, Dash Baxter's, locker without getting caught.

It was the last one that made her pause and wonder how he had pulled that one off, it also made her want to give him a high five. She'd heard all about the jock from her brother, he was the "Superstar of Casper High" who couldn't pull of a passing grade to save his life. Her brother also told her how he was a massive bully, which made her blood boil just thinking about it.

Overall it was a very interesting experience, and when, on the slightly colder days when there were few people coming in, when she had nothing to do, she was able to wonder about the town hero that she had come to know as her friend.

She knew, logically, that she should leave him to his privacy, he deserved that much at least, but so much didn't make sense about him! Stuff that had nothing to do with the fact that he was a ghost. And it drove her crazy.

She knew she couldn't come out right and ask him about it, but she figured she could look into it on her down time, just to see what she could find.

But she hadn't been able to find _anything_, something that only added to her curiosity. If she had been able to find something that told her Phantom had at one point _existed _she would have been satisfied. But there was nothing.

Her train of thought was cut off as the door to the small ice cream shop opened, ringing a small bell above the door as it did so.

Two people walked in, a goth girl and a boy with a red baret on his head. They seemed to be in an argument about meat?

They only stopped arguing as they neared the counter where she was, still glaring at each other slightly as they each ordered.

As soon as they had paid they went right back to arguing, sitting down in the store so she could hear the entire argument.

Their argument was a strange one to say the least. She was still trying to block them out when the store bell rang again, signally someone else had entered the store.

She looked up from where she was, wishing that she didn't still have an hour left in her shift, when she realized who had came in.

It was Danny Fenton. And he looked like he had just been in a fight.

His hair was all over the place, his clothes were a mess with odd stains on them that she was hoping wasn't blood and he seemed to be limping slightly, almost not noticeably.

"Oh my gosh, are you okay?" She asked him concernedly as he limped over to the other two people in the store, the goth and techno-geek whom had stopped fighting when the other boy had walked in.

All three of them paused and looked up at her exclamation, as if it was strange for her to be asking if an injured person was okay.

The Goth looked suspicious.

The techno-geek looked surprised.

Danny looked at her in disbelief. Staring at her with wide eyes.

For a second no one spoke, then Danny shattered the silence.

"Oh yeah, I'm fine. I just fell because I was in such a hurry to get here?" It came out as a question, but the three of them were already up and leaving before she had time to respond to him and call him out on his lie.

She blinked at the now empty store, the only sign that they had been here at all was the ice cream droplets that they had left on the table.

_'Well that was strange'_ She thought, wondering if she had done something to them without her knowledge. Or maybe the Fenton boy was just as strange as everyone said he was.

Later that same night, Phantom showed up at her window.

Her eyes immediately wandered to under her bed, where she had taken to keeping her own first aid kit so her brother didn't start to wonder where all of his supplies were disappearing to.

Phantom seemed to catch on to what she was thinking, and stepping in through the window.

"Nope, no injuries today."

She left out a sigh of relief. "That's good, so what's up?"

Phantom floated in the air with his legs crossed, this, she had discovered, was his favorite way of sitting.

"Well I was thinking, we met because you got caught on the street with a ghost. I was there, thank goodness, but I wanted to give this to you."

He held a gun out to her. Only it wasn't a regular looking gun. It was silver and futuristic looking, with green designs running up and down the sides. It was the type of gun she had seen often in the Fenton's hands.

She didn't take it from him.

"A ghost gun?"

Phantom nodded. "I wanted you to have it just in case. I can help you learn how to use it next time we meet in the park. It can't hurt humans."

She took it hesitantly. She had never held a gun before, let alone a ghost gun, and she took great care to aim it anywhere but at Phantom, seeing as he was the only thing in the room she could hurt with it.

"What if someone see's it? How am I supposed to explain it?" She asked him, just thinking about the trouble she could get into if she brought this into the store.

"It's a ghost hunting gun, people aren't very uptight about them. Just don't wave it in peoples faces and no one should blink. Plus if you say you got it from the Fenton's..."

She cut him off there.

"Phantom! Did you steal this from them?"

He paused and looked over at her like he couldn't believe that _that_ was what he was being yelled at for.

"Not really," At her raised eyebrow he elaborated.

"It was in their 'not working' pile so I took it and fixed it. They weren't going to use it anyway. Besides they would be fine with it if they knew you were protecting yourself with it."

She still frowned at the thought of having something that was stolen, but gave in because it would be nice to be able to protect herself from any ghosts if Phantom didn't show up in time. The few seconds she had been being targeted by the metal ghost, Skulker, all those weeks ago had been terrifying. Definitely not something she was looking to repeat.

"Okay, but you better be able to help me use it, because I've never shot a gun before."

Phantom nodded, smiling at her. She sat down on her bed, Phantom drifting closer so that they could talk.

"So what ghosts did you fight this week?"

Phantom's face lit up and she began to listen to the impossible adventures of her ghost friend. Smiling the entire time.


End file.
